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SD footage in an HD project?
Hi
I’m making a music video. I recorded myself playing ebow guitar live into my DAW, while also recording it on my camera. I have between 2-4 NTSC clips that I want playing at the same time. To make more room to show all the clips simultaneously I want to do the final composite at HDV-1080 in Final Cut Studio 2: Final Cut Pro for the main timeline, and switching to Motion 3 for some fancy effects here and there. I figure 3 SD clips playing on an HD timeline will be able to stay at close to their original size (maybe up to 150%) in order to fit them all together.
My question is:
1. Will SD footage stretched larger to fit an HDV project be OK looking resolution wise? Or is there some upscaling procedure I should do to the footage first to prep it for HD? – or does putting SD footage in an HD project automatically upscale the footage?
2. Is there a better 1080 project size other than HDV that would work better with SD NTSC footage? I want to do it in 1080 because I think if you do 720, and send it to youtube you won’t get the HD option.
I’ve already made the FCP project and began editing. I have to do it in low rez/unlimitedRT mode so I don’t have to render to see any small changes. And it seems to be chugging pretty slowly when I round trip 30 sec of 3 clips to Motion 3 – with very little movement in 3D space. So before I go any further I just want to make sure I’m working in the best resolution for what I want to do.
Thanks!
Chadfish
8 Core Mac Pro 3Ghz/ 9 gigs of RAM, Final Cut Studio 2
8 Core Mac Pro
9 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM
MOTU Traveler Firewire Interface
Mac OX 10.4.11 TigerMy Music: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/chadjohnson
My Fun Video: https://www.youtube.com/chadfish
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8 Replies
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Is there nobody with any knowledge on this?
8 Core Mac Pro
9 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM
MOTU Traveler Firewire Interface
Mac OX 10.4.11 TigerMy Music: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/chadjohnson
My Fun Video: https://www.youtube.com/chadfish
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[Chad] Will SD footage stretched larger to fit an HDV project be OK looking resolution wise
Any time you make something bigger then it is you will lose quality. FCP will upscale the SD footage but doesn’t do the best job. You will get star casing and other stuff. You can send it out to a fancy Post House in LA and they will charge you a ton to do the up-conversion with hardware. Me personally, I feel it is okay when they do it but is not worth the price. We found the best way to do it is to project it onto a wall or TV and re-record it. This takes a lot of work to get all of the setting in your camera right and make sure you have the area as dark as it can be. This gets rid of star stepping. I think the third option is the best but will take you the most time. Its up to you.
Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2
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If my final output is SD or youtube 16×9 will stretching it up and shrinking it back down lose more resolution than if I just worked at SD all the way?
I’m thinking that since I am fitting 3 or 4 clips of the SD footage at a time on an HD canvas, my resolution won’t be as bad as if I tried to stretch 1 SD clip all the way up to HD.
Chad
8 Core Mac Pro
9 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM
MOTU Traveler Firewire Interface
Mac OX 10.4.11 TigerMy Music: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/chadjohnson
My Fun Video: https://www.youtube.com/chadfish
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If the final output is SD then why not work in SD?
Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2
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Hi Stephen
It will be in different formats. I will make blueray when I get a burner, and I want it to be hd on youtube. But I also make SD DVDs for friends.
Like I said, I want the canvas size of HD, as I have 3-4 4×3 SD shots that will play at once at maybe 150% of thir normal size. Sometimes I will blow one shot up to fill the screen with black columns on the sides. I didn’t realize that upscailing required taking the footage to a special business just for that. I figured there would be some preset in Compressor. I am amazed at the image I get with my DVD player upscailing SD footage to my Sony HDTV. So I thought I could help the clips I want to play large, and the others will take up relatively the same space pixle-wise.
So before I meticulously edit 10 min of an HD FCP/Motion project I want to know if pixels on video will stretch up then back down without much degradation.
Thanks
Chad
8 Core Mac Pro
9 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM
MOTU Traveler Firewire Interface
Mac OX 10.4.11 TigerMy Music: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/chadjohnson
My Fun Video: https://www.youtube.com/chadfish
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I think every ones level of what is an acceptably level of video quality is different. The project I was working on was an HD Movie that had a small amount of SD footage in it. That is why we went through the big hassle of getting the maximum quality we could out of the SD footage. For your project I personally think you will be just fine working with your SD footage in a HD timeline. I recommend that you do a test and judge for yourself if the quality level is acceptable. Hope this helps.
Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2
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Thanks Stephen!
Good suggestion. Will do.
See ya.
Chadfish
8 Core Mac Pro
9 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM
MOTU Traveler Firewire Interface
Mac OX 10.4.11 TigerMy Music: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/chadjohnson
My Fun Video: https://www.youtube.com/chadfish
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Thanks Chad, Keep the good questions coming.
Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2
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